Chapter 137 (Special Side Story Chapter 2)
“If you still want me to pay you, shouldn’t I be able to repay you in some other way?”
Count Vanein snorted.
“What do you think you can do?”
Evelia had lived like a sinner in House Vanein, but she had enjoyed the privileges of noble birth.
What could a child who couldn’t even go out on her own possibly do?
But contrary to Count Vanein’s thoughts, Evelia already had a plan.
‘If I find Samuel Denoa and start trading information, I’ll see a way forward.’
Honestly, there was no guarantee that she would succeed as planned.
Even if she did succeed, she couldn’t guarantee that the path would be smooth.
Perhaps, as Count Vanein had said, it might have been a much better choice to just quietly become Duchess Adelhard. But Evelia didn’t want to let anyone else control her newly regained life.
It was a path to unhappiness for all three of them, her, Cassis, and Ruth.
“Just give me a month. I’ll give you something better than sending me to Adelhard or another family.”
It was a lie.
Who would do something like that to Count Vanein?
After her meeting with Samuel, Evelia planned to sneak out of the Vanein mansion and create a new identity.
A life where Count Vanein could never find her even if he tried to chase her, and do whatever she wanted to do.
All it would take was a little innocent lying.
“A month? Do I look so idle to you?”
“Isn’t that a small price to pay for something greater?”
After thinking for a moment, Count Vanein sighed and answered.
“Very well. I’ll give you a month, and if you don’t prove your worth in that time, you’ll have to do what I want again.”
Anyway, he seemed to be convinced that Evelia wouldn’t be able to do anything, whether he gave her a week or a month.
He’d pretend to give her a grace period and figure out what to do with her during that month.
It was enough for her to leave the Count’s office, satisfied that they had a different vision of each other.
* * *
Everything went smoothly after that.
First, he met Samuel Denoa, the head of the Information Guild, Siero, and successfully completed the first transaction.
After confirming that the Talan flower Evelia had told him about would be helpful to his younger sister, Aria Denoa, Samuel was quite friendly to her.
He went to find Erin Launer, the nameless doctor Evelia had asked him to find, and gave her a large sum of money as the price for telling her about the Talan flower.
No matter how many times Ivelia told him that the information about the Talan Flower was simply a favor, he refused to budge.
He also laid the groundwork for her to leave Count Vanein and become independent.
It was with Samuel’s help that Evelia began to draw a concrete blueprint for her future.
“You know that there will be a banquet at the palace next week, right? So make sure you’re ready to go. Arthur will be your escort.”
Count Vanein informed her abruptly.
It had been about three weeks since Evelia had received her divorce papers from Adelhard.
Count Vanein was very strict with the one month he had set.
“Understood.”
Evelia obediently followed his words. It was better to pretend to follow along than to risk the Count’s wrath by insisting on staying.
Regardless of what happened at the palace banquet, she intended to leave the capital in two weeks.
And the day of the banquet.
Evelia got into the carriage with her indifferent stepbrother, Arthur.
Derek, who had been hostile to her, would not be attending this banquet. His leg, injured a month earlier, had not yet healed properly.
Naturally, Evelia, or more precisely, Samuel who had heard the circumstances, had helped with Derek’s injury.
“Why did you break off your engagement with Duke Adelhard?”
As Evelia stared blankly out the window, Arthur asked.
Evelia looked at him with somewhat surprised eyes.
Arthur Vanein was the only person who was friendly to her in this stuffy and suffocating mansion.
To be exact, it would be more accurate to say ‘indifferent’ rather than ‘friendly.’
In any case, such was Arthur’s personality that Evelia had never had a proper conversation with him in the month she’d been here.
Naturally, she had never had a leisurely conversation with him about the break-off of the engagement.
She thought it would be the same in the future…
‘What are you thinking?’
Evelia replied cautiously, watching him warily.
“It’s not that I broke off the engagement, it’s that we broke off. I think father would have said the same thing.”
“… I think you were the one who first proposed the breakup to the Duke.”
“…….”
Evelia couldn’t bring herself to say no.
If Count Vanein or Derek Vanein had said that, she would have denied it right away, but for some reason, she couldn’t do that to Arthur.
Because now he seemed to see through her every thought.
“That’s right, I asked for an annulment first.”
“And why?”
“I don’t see why you’re asking now, it’s been a while, and you haven’t really cared about it, have you?”
Even if it wasn’t, you haven’t been paying attention to ‘Evelia’ until now.
Arthur Vanein didn’t antagonize or harass his half-sister who suddenly appeared one day.
Nor did he look at her with contempt.
Arthur’s indifference may have seemed favorable to young Evelia, who lived like a sinner, but…
‘But what’s the difference between him and other people?’
It wasn’t exactly a favorable one to the young Evelia.
After all, he had never stood up for her when she was being treated unfairly.
That made her think Arthur was even worse.
She assumed that he didn’t even feel worth dealing with.
Which is why she found his demeanor now so baffling.
“I’ve always wanted to ask you. I just couldn’t.”
“So why didn’t you do it like before and now…”
“I was just curious about your thoughts.”
“…….”
“I……”
“If you’re thinking of acting like a big brother now, I’ll pass.”
Evelia cut him off firmly.
If Arthur’s concern for her right now was out of shallow guilt, she didn’t want to hear it.
After all, he was no different than any other Vanein people.
“If you really want to do something for me… Yes, it would be in my best interest to do nothing.”
Just then, the carriage that had entered the palace came to a stop.
Evelia asked quietly to Arthur, who did not answer.
“Aren’t you going to escort me?”
* * *
‘I’ve read a lot about imperial banquets in novels, but it’s not pleasant when you actually come here.’
I had prepared myself for the banquet when Count Vanein told me to attend.
The engagement that made the Empire buzz, and the broken engagement that was even more talked about.
And no one favored Evelia, who was the subject of it all.
There were two kinds of people in the ballroom right now: those who looked at her with contempt and those who wanted to talk to her out of curiosity.
‘There were all sorts of speculations from the beginning when they got engaged.’
It was an engagement that was strange to those who didn’t know the truth.
Cassis Adelhard, who is flawed by having an illegitimate child, but otherwise perfect, and Evelia, the Count’s illegitimate daughter, who has nothing to boast about except her pretty face.
People didn’t think “he” Cassis was engaged to Evelia because he loved her.
On the contrary, they thought he was engaged to her as a condition for Evelia or Count Vanein to recognize Lucius Adelhard as the successor.
‘Well, it’s close enough.’
